Regent Seven Seas Voyager – Cruises Canceled, Pod Problems & Possible Alternatives

Regent Seven Seas Cruises is struggling to make things as right as possible for its guests aboard its crippled Voyager for their October 3, 2010 cruise and for its guests who were to board her on October 17, 2010.  Having dealt with a similar problem during Voyager’s 2009 World Cruise, Regent is acting quickly.

Presently it is working to get all of its 700 guests home from Athens and to be sure they are taken care of both while in Athens and for the future.  Guests are presently allowed to stay aboard the ship with full services (“only” a pod is broken), tours, entertainment, etc.  Those guests who cannot be flown out of Athens by tomorrow are going to be put up at the Intercontinental and given a $100 per day food allowance.  Regent hopes to have everyone on their way by week’s end at the latest.

Regent is also offering a full refund of the cruise fare plus a $1,000 per person future cruise credit. 

As an alternative, if they choose to do so by October 15, 2010, the affected guests will be given the opportunity to sail on any of the following cruises (most of which are longer) without paying anything additional to what they have already paid:

Seven Seas Navigator, October 26, Bangkok – Sydney, 21 nights

Seven Seas Voyager, November 8, Barcelona – Fort Lauderdale, 15 nights
Seven Seas Mariner, November 8, Dubai – Cape Town, 25 nights
Seven Seas Navigator, December 1, Auckland – San Francisco, 20 nights
Seven Seas Mariner, December 3, Cape Town – Rio de Janeiro, 14 nights
Seven Seas Voyager, December 27, Fort Lauderdale – San Francisco, 17 nights
Seven Seas Voyager, January 14, San Francisco – Auckland, 25 nights
Seven Seas Voyager, February 23, Sydney – Beijing, 25 nights
Seven Seas Voyager, April 9, Bangkok – Dubai, 25 nights

It is unclear what, if anything, Regent is going to do for other expenses which are not covered by travel insurance.

I understand that ship happens and I will wait to see how all this plays out.  I am not, however, impressed with the offer as it relates to the October 3rd guests, at a minimum.  Regent hasn’t, as I see it, even begun to cut into its profit margin by providing a $1,000 credit on a future cruise which on Regent will probably exceed $7,500 per guest.

Now as for the timing and extent of any repairs, it seems clear to me that there was a serious failure which will require not only a drydock, but parts that may or may not be available.  There is no purpose of drydocking a ship if the parts you need aren’t where you need them, or for that matter, in existence.

I will keep you posted!